Karissa awoke with a knock on her door. Whoever knocked didn't wait for her to open it and simply opened the door gently as they entered the room, and with squinted eyes she found Van coming inside dressed in a plain white t-shirt and red shorts. His naturally spiky black hair looked much more messier after waking up.
The older brother smiled at the sight of his little sister wrapped in her blanket with a drowsy look on her face, her black hair all messy from turning in her sleep. He approached the bed and brushed away the hair covering her face, watching how she blankly stared at him until he cleared her face from hair. He then held her head in his hands and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Come on, wake up and let's eat." He told her and patted her head. In response, she only hummed rested her cheek against her soft pillow, eyes threatening to close, but Van wasn't done trying to wake her up. He booped her nose and then pinched it, causing her to squawk in surprise.
Eventually, she got up and went downstairs and found cup noodles waiting for her at her seat. An easy breakfast to prepare since Van was too lazy and sleepy to make some toast or anything else that required more effort than simply boiling water and pouring it into the food and letting it sit.
Van used his foot to push her chair for her sit. His dark brown eyes observed her plant herself in her seat while rubbing her eyes. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes and then carefully pulled off the paper cover to set it on the side. She used chopsticks to eat her noodles unlike Van and Pandora who couldn't seem to figure out the mechanics of a simple tool, they resorted to using forks. When was the last time he saw her eating noodles with a fork?
Van noted how his little sister didn't even ask about Pandora's whereabouts. The eldest daughter was usually the one to make them breakfast, she was like their mother in a way with everything she did for them.
"By the way, Pandora left early for the guild this morning. I saw her leave but I don't know what she's up to." He said before slurping some of his chicken flavored noodles.
Karissa swallowed her noodles and merely hummed in acknowledgement which made Van feel uneasy. He could tell she was still feeling a little down after what happened last night even though it wasn't written plainly on her face, it may not be obvious but he conditioned himself to pick up the subtle signs that gave away anything that meant that something was off with his sister.
"Hey, Karissa." Van called her and she looked at him curiously, she had the face of someone who didn't look bothered by anything at all though. He smiled at her gently. "Don't take Pandora's words to heart. No one knows the truth."
The youngest Sinclost placed her chopsticks across the cup and listened to him attentively.
"You know, I personally believe that mom and dad had a reason for suddenly leaving." He voiced with a soft expression as he remembered the love he received from his parents. "It's just frustrating to not know the reason and it makes them look bad. It makes you feel abandoned right?"
"Well... yeah." Karissa nodded and propped her legs up on the chair to sit cross legged on it. "Plus, we were really young back then. We were naïve compared to now."
"True." Van pointed his fork at her lazily. "But I don't doubt that mom and dad loved us. Do you love them?"
"Yeah." She answered without hesitation.
"Me too. And I believed they loved us too. I'm sure they loved Clavis just as much." Van propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm. "I'll never forget the way mom cuddled Clavis in her arms. She looked very happy."
"You were only four." Karissa deadpanned. "How could you remember that far?"
Van snickered and gave her a smirk. "You don't realize that your brain remembers things from that early on because you don't know how old you were at that time. But anyway, she held him when he was two after he didn't cry after scrapping his knee on the ground when he tripped."
Karissa winced. "Ouch."
Van laughed and leaned back in his chair to prop up a leg and rest his arm on it. "Mom looked proud of him for not bawling his eyes out and hugged him. That is until dad started disinfecting the wound, that's when he started crying loudly."
"I don't really have any memories with Clavis." Karissa admitted almost sadly. "You don't exactly remember much from when you're two."
"That's called childhood amnesia, I think."
"The only faint thing I can remember is holding his hand. That's it."
Van twirled his noodles like spaghetti with a smile. "Well at least you can remember that. It'd be kinda sad if you didn't remember anything at all about your twin."
"You think so?" Karissa picked up her chopsticks with furrowed brows. Van hummed and nodded as he chewed his noodles.
"Yeah. If I had a twin, I personally would want a memory of my other half. But anyway, it would be so nice to have another guy in the house." Van mused and ruffled his black hair lazily. "I wish another guy in the family would share my pain at being at the mercy of periods."
Karissa snickered at that and rolled her eyes. "What's so bad about it? You're not the one walking around with a fountain between your legs."
Van scoffed and crossed his arms. "I'm talking about mood swings."
"Hey! I don't do anything to you!"
"Yeah, you, I can deal with because you're just tired and lazy and you stay in your room most of time. You're hella peaceful. You only get cranky when you're in pain which is rare but you don't lash out. That's why I like to pamper you when you're on your period. Pandora, on the other hand, she's a whole different animal on her period. The last time I didn't get her the pads she wanted, she got pissed and threw a tantrum!"
"I mean..." Karissa shrugged and gave him a look. "How could you make a mistake after buying them so many times?"
Van clapped his hands together. "That's why it'd would be nice to have another guy in the house so we could help each other during a week of despair. I wouldn't forget if he reminded me not to make the same mistake."
Karissa chuckled at the thought and shook her head and yet she couldn't help but wonder how their family dynamic would have been if Clavis was with them today.
―
...
...
...
Master Makarov rubbed his chin as he thought about Pandora's request.
It was early in the morning. Aside from the Master and Mirajane, no one really showed up at this time but Pandora had shown up quite early for once to request one thing from Master Makarov.
She was asking him to ask the Magic Council, who knows where prisoners are being held, to ask Brain of the Oracion Seis to give them information on anything related to Clavis Sinclost. She revealed to Master Makarov the existence of the third child of Domilia and Zack, it was news to him. Never had they mentioned the existence of Karissa's twin brother before. She also revealed how Domilia and Zack acted before their demise. She thought that using Master Makarov, who often gets summoned to apologize for Fairy Tail's chaos, was the most sure way to get her request delivered.
"I don't know if they'll be able to do it right away. The Magic Council is preoccupied with other pressing matters these days." Makarov said mostly to himself and then lowered his hand. "And about Domilia and Zack... I had a feeling something was up with them."
Pandora, her curiosity piqued, stared at the master with question marks in her eyes. "What do you mean?"
The little old man stroked his moustache. "You're aware that they used to live in Fiore, right?"
The eldest Sinclost only shrugged. "They mentioned it because they wanted to move back here."
Makarov nodded slowly and hummed a little, he was pondering about the two deceased couple. "They refused to tell me where they were going. They told me it was best that I just knew that they were leaving for an indefinite time. I didn't think that they would end up dead a few years later..."
Pandora narrowed her eyes at this new piece of history. Based on that alone, it sounded like her mother and father were... maybe running away from something? What if they were hiding from something? But it never seemed like they were hiding away from something when they were alive. The information she was getting made her feel uneasy and somehow she didn't know how to really feel about it. In fact, she didn't want to think about it all.
The information was incomplete so she figured it was better not to tell Van and Karissa to not confuse them anymore than necessary.
Makarov noted how the eldest daughter was facing the table they were sitting at with an unreadable expression. Her fists were clenched tightly from a hidden emotion within her. The little old man noticed how a few members started coming inside the guild, he took that as his cue to wrap up their private discussion, he gave his word to Pandora that he would do his best to help her and her family. Personally, he would like to give Clavis the chance to be reunited with his family.
―
With a black and blue cross body bag that tucked away a sketchbook, Karissa walked to the guild dressed in dark green jeans and a loose black cardigan on top of a gray t-shirt that had white line patterns. Van was walking with her wearing a dark green flannel sweater and blue ripped jeans. He was humming a playful tune next to her as they walked down the street.
After three hours of being lazy and almost falling asleep after breakfast, they decided to be productive and head to the guildhall. It's not like Karissa could stay home all day anyway, she had to see Max to show him the ideas she came up with on her sketchbook, he was the one who asked her if she wanted to after yesterday's celebration for Wendy and Carla. Right now, he was most likely at the Souvenir Shop waiting for some customers. It was cool that her second source of income came from collaborating with a friend.
"So, if Pandora's not making supper for any reason can you order takeout?" Karissa innocently asked her older brother while putting out her best pleading eyes with a tiny smile, making her look very innocent. Van stiffened and almost stopped walking when she caught him off guard. She got him.
Immediately, he gave her a thumbs up and gave her a serious nod. "Leave it to me."
Karissa turned her head while pulling her sleeves to casually brush the side of her mouth just as she smirked discreetly. Oh, how fun it was to use the privilege of being the baby sister.
"Do you want noodles or do you want that beef rice bowl?"
She turned her head. "Beef rice bowl!"
"Alright! I'm buying takeout no matter what Pandora might be making later." He decided with a firm nod, stuffing his hands in his pockets but then he raised a finger and placed it in front of his lips. "Don't tell Pandora."
Almost sounds like 'don't tell your mother', she thought with amusement.
"Hey you two."
At the sound of the familiar deep voice, Karissa's shoes were glued to the ground until she whirled around to face them almost immediately to give her their attention. It was Gray, he was wearing a simple blue shirt, a gray sweater and dark green pants. Van took his sweet time turning around to face his old family friend.
"Fullbuster!" she grinned when he approached them with a wave.
"Sinclost." Gray replied with a smirk. "And Sinclost number two."
Van snorted. "Be precise would you? Are you numbering us based on preference or age?"
"It's gotta be preference." She shrugged with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why would you be number one for him?"
"Exactly." Gray nodded and clapped Karissa's shoulder who grinned confidently. "She's number one in being annoying sometimes."
Her grin dropped. "Eat a grass." She smacked off his hand and he evaded the hand that tried to pinch his nose. He laughed and caught her wrist in his hand, wrapping it in warmth that shot all the way up to the tip of her fingers.
"You should have said I was your number one friend or something! Anything nicer instead of ruining it!"
"Why should I say something that's obvious? It's no fun like that." Gray tipped his head and smirked when she fell silent and all pouty. He couldn't enjoy her reaction for too long since when he turned his head and spotted Van walking meters away from them.
"Oi! Where are you going?" the dark haired male shouted, causing the eldest brother of the Sinclost family to spin on his heel and walk backwards with his hands in his pockets. He shrugged and held his sweater open with a grimace.
"I had the sinking feeling that I was going to become a third wheel so imma head to the guild first!"
Karissa deadpanned at her brother who then had a jovial smile on his face when he waved at them and continued walking away.
Great, I think Van is starting to think like Mirajane...
"Hey, uh, what's in your bag?" The larger hand wrapped around her wrist slid off, making her realize how warm her wrist felt prior to him letting go, a pleasant warmth was missing now. They continued walking to the guild at a slower pace. He put his hands in his sweater's pockets and leaned to the side to look at the bag in question that was against her left thigh.
"Oh, I'm going to show Max some stuff I designed for the Souvenir Shop. They're just drafts though."
"Can I see?" he held out his hand.
She didn't even answer him because she was already pulling out her sketchbook eager to fulfill his request, pages flipped until she reached the page where the recent drafts began, her hands gently handed him her sketchbook before her eyes lasered in on a wall that gradually increased in height ahead of them. She decided to hop on and walk on it, making Gray shift his eyes towards her, he moved closer to the wall to walk by her side.
"So, what are you planning on making?" he flipped a page.
"I was thinking about charms."
"Don't we have that already?"
"We have charms of the Fairy Tail mark. I'm thinking of making charms of members."
"To attract kids?" he saw a little chibi drawing of Natsu that was spewing out fire like the natural hazard that he was.
"Yep." Karissa stiffened when she lost her balance for a moment. Alarmed, he stopped next to her was ready to drop the sketchbook to catch her. She let out a whimper and just crouched on the wall and steadied herself by placing her palms on the wall. She sheepishly turned her head and looked at Gray who gave her look.
"I'm good!" she averted her eyes from his. "But yeah... it's to attract kids too." She stood back up confidently and steadily continued walking even though Gray told her to get down. "Max took some business courses when he told Master Makarov about his plans to about a Souvenir Shop. I'm making use of some of the knowledge he shared with me."
Gray chuckled when he found a chibi drawing of him holding up an ice version of the Fairy Tail insignia. Next to him was her sitting down cross legged with two ice snowflakes hovering around her. Before he even realized it, he was brushing his index finger across the chibi version of Karissa with a small endearing smile, then his finger froze, he pulled away and cleared his throat before closing the sketchbook.
He looked up and was about to say something before doing a double take. He peered over his shoulder and realized just how far they walked from the spot where she nearly fell. And now, she looked a little nervous. This dummy.
"Lemme... just go back." Karissa laughed nervously and started turning around until Gray tossed the sketchbook flat on the ground.
"Don't bother. Come on, jump." He motioned his fingers towards him.
Karissa shook her head but still crouched. "You kidding?! I'm scared I'll fuck up my ankles..."
"You won't. Hurry up."
Karissa calculated the probability of falling and hurting herself.
"Rapunzel let down your hair." He cooed teasingly.
She deadpanned.
"Don't make me tug you down."
"Geez, some hero you are. The rescuer is supposed to be nice to the rescuee."
"Not unless the rescuee is a— OH SHIT!" Gray freaked when she suddenly leaped towards him and locked her limbs around him, his arms shooting up on instinct to hold her securely against him when he took several uneasy steps backwards. "I said jump! NOT LEAP FROG INTO ME!"
The black haired female only snickered in his shoulder like as if she wasn't freaking out on top of a wall just seconds ago. That scare alone probably shaved off a few years off his lifespan. "You still caught me though so we all good."
He groaned. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Weak." she leaned back to poke his forehead with a teasing tongue poking out between her lips.
When he put her down safely, she went to pick up her sketchbook while he just tried to calm down his heart that he didn't notice began racing. Absentmindedly, his fingers brushed his cheek that was lightly touching hers for a brief moment when he held her. Then he let his hand fall back to his side when she came back to his side with a smirk, looking quite pleased with herself. He rolled his eyes at her satisfaction and just lightly bonked her head.
Meanwhile, a certain blue mage who had been hiding in the shadows, following the taller ice mage, was all but gnawing on a handkerchief with frustration after witnessing their interaction.
"Karissa Sinclost...!"
―
Two hours after working with Max, Karissa decided to head inside the guild where she was called over by Cana and Lucy at the counter. Cana was at it with her usual drinking, Lucy was juice drinking a soda and Karissa was drinking apple juice from a straw. They were having a light conversation about some stories that happened to them recently. A comfortable silence fell between them after Karissa finished talking about Van's suffering when it came to periods, that is until Cana sighed after taking a long glug of her alcohol.
"Cuddles with your boyfriend is perfect for when you have your period. I want a boyfriend." She lamented while Karissa sweat dropped at her sudden sulky behaviour.
"Really?"
"What's that all of a sudden?" Lucy set her drink down. Cana slouched and rested her chin on her arms with a pout. "A man! I need a guy! I haven't had a boyfriend in a while, and I'm getting an urge for some flesh."
"How do you suddenly get an 'urge' for flesh, Cana?" Karissa finished her apple juice, knowing exactly what she was implying.
"Of course, you wouldn't know, pure child." Cana poked her on the side, causing her to jerk and frown. "But trust me, once you get a man and get some action, you'll crave for it every now and then."
"I guess I'll never know what if feels like to embrace someone in white sheets underneath the moonlight that peeks through the curtains." Karissa said dramatically, feigning sadness in her tone. And in no way was she reciting a line from a book she read. Nope.
The black haired mage raised an eyebrow when she saw Lucy, who was sitting on the other side of Cana, turning away. Her ears looked suspiciously red. Cana took note of her staring and turned to look at Lucy too. She had a better view of her when she craned her neck to peer at her face.
"What're you turning red for?"
"N-Nothing! I am not..."
"Hmm..."
"She's a virgin." Karissa bluntly pointed out, causing the blonde mage to snap her head in her direction with her jaw dropped. The ice mage only smirked when her perceptiveness got the right answer.
Cana leaned closer to Lucy with an interested grin. "Did you at least have a boyfriend?"
Lucy laughed nervously with a hand in front of her mouth, her eyes were darting around to look at anyone but the two other female mages. "Two...? M-Maybe three?"
"She's lying." Karissa snickered when Lucy completely turned her head away in shame.
Karissa flinched when Cana turned and suddenly yelled out to the guild that Lucy never had a boyfriend in her life. For Lucy's sake, Karissa tried to shut Cana's mouth along with the blonde celestial mage.
"If it makes you feel better, Karissa over here hasn't had a boyfriend or her first kiss either, and she's older than you." Cana reached over and patted her best friend's head. Karissa didn't even try to correct her since she didn't want Cana knowing about her kiddy smooches as a child, let her believe she was pure, she'll suffer less that way.
"You never dated anyone either?" Lucy blinked in surprise.
"Nope. Guys don't like me." Karissa shrugged nonchalantly before reaching over and snatching a piece of candy sitting in a bowl.
"That's because you looked so unapproachable most of the time." Cana pointed out which only made her shrug again but with a sheepish grin this time. "But at least you had one guy who confessed to you."
"Yeah, the only person weird enough to like me."
"He wasn't weird. And he was super cute."
Karissa popped the candy into her mouth, looked at Cana, and then shrugged in an exaggerated manner with her lips comically pursed.
"Don't you guys want a boyfriend?" Cana asked her two friends while propping her leg up on the stool.
"I've thought about it before, but... Honestly, I don't really know..." Lucy played with the rim of her cup.
"I think about it now and then." Karissa admitted sigh, waving her hand dismissively. "But I just brush the thought away. In other words, I don't really think about it at all."
"Did you ever... I don't know... consider dating Gray?" Lucy suddenly asked curiosity since Karissa was being a little open on the topic. "You guys seem like you'd be a good match."
"Right?" Cana smiled and leaned her arm on the counter. Then he peered over her shoulder to look around. "Don't let Juvia hear you say that though."
Karissa shrugged. "I think I did once out of pure curiosity but that was a long time ago. Never really thought about it again."
It was some time around when her mind would think about it often after reading books. She was a growing girl going through puberty so, of course, she wondered about certain things when seeing couples around her age go out together in town and hearing Cana brag about a boyfriend (now an ex) in the past. She had mentally made a list and tried to imagine a scenario for herself. The thought of dating Gray didn't linger on her mind for too long since the thought came purely out of curiosity.
But now that they were on the subject, she allowed herself to think about it curiously once more. A number of what-if scenarios painted in her mind. Her mind that would mostly treat these thoughts as fleeting ones decided let it linger longer to the point where she was just spacing out. It was making her feel... somewhat tingly. A nervous weird tingly feeling. Then she blinked and realized she needed to stop because she was actually getting interested in her own what-ifs. She didn't and couldn't let her mind think too much about it, that would risk stepping foot into a place of no return. She couldn't do that.
She may lack experience in the field of romance, but she has read stories of that genre which played a part in imagining those what-if boyfriend scenarios out.
While Cana was talking to Lucy about boyfriends, Karissa placed a hand on her nape and lightly brushed her fingers against it and turned her face away from them as she lightly bit her lip. Her mind was seriously taking its time with tearing down her imagination.
I shouldn't be thinking about Gray like that...
"Karissa did admit that she found Gray attractive recently." Mirajane dropped interesting information as she passed by to give someone's order on the other end of the counter. This caused Karissa to maintain a straight face as she scratched her cheek with her finger, ignoring the widened eyes from both Cana and Lucy. But to her surprise, the brunette was pretty calm about it.
"You never admit these kinds of things." Cana remarked, trying to read Karissa's face, it's too bad she wasn't as easy to read as Lucy.
"Mirajane kinda forced it out of me."
"Did I?~" the white haired mage passed by again. Karissa gave her stink eye when the older mage passed in front of her.
"Pure child is finally trying to step out of that purity box!" Cana joked which caused Karissa to furrow her brows and give her a 'really?' face.
You wouldn't be calling me pure child if you knew what I read with Erza sometimes...
"I mean, Gray is definitely a handsome guy, I get it, but he's just not my type." The card user shrugged. "What do you think, Lucy? You think our resident stripper is attractive?"
The blonde mage cautiously peered around for any sign of blue before nodding discreetly. "But he's not really my type and I'm not into guys that strip."
Karissa scowled and fidgeted with her candy wrapper. "Well... it's not like he was born with a stripping disease." She defended the other ice mage. "Besides, it's kind of endearing if you have context."
Cana snorted at her reasoning after taking a slug of her bottle. "That's the first time I'm hearing someone call Gray's stripping habit 'endearing'." She said with a giggle. "People who accept another's flaws is a sign of love." She cooed and patted her head.
"Oh, shut up." Karissa groaned, dropping her face in her hand. "And lower your voice if you plan on talking about this subject, I don't want the water girl to hear."
She's seen the way Juvia glares daggers at Lucy just for being around Gray. She didn't need her hearing any of this. A hounding Juvia is the last thing she wanted.
"Okay, then let's talk about how you and Gray were cuddling on the futons back on Galuna Island." Lucy grinned slyly.
Karissa choked on her candy and she coughed violently.
Cana slammed her hand on the counter and gave Karissa a look of disbelief while patting her back with her other hand.
The memory flashed in her mind like a train that came at full speed. That night when they were having a feast after they resolved the 'curse' on the villagers, she and Gray retired early. When they were about to sleep, she told him how she didn't want him to die, she was basically telling him how scared she was when he nearly threw away his life twice in a day. That resulted in them hugging because she asked for it albeit the hug was not the best since they were lying down. She was pretty sure they weren't so pressed against each other either, and when she woke up from that nightmare Gray didn't have his arm around her either.
She scratched her the back of her head. "We... We weren't cuddling." It sounded more like a question when it left her mouth.
Seeing the unsure look on Karissa's face, Cana turned to the eye witness and looked at her seriously. "Lucy, what did you see?"
"Well..."
―
Once everything calmed down, the villagers began to clean up and insisted that the Fairy Tail mages retire without assisting in the clean up. It was their way of showing their gratitude. Natsu and Happy were drowsy from eating so much food and ready to just crash. Erza and Lucy walked way ahead of them while making light chatter as they walked to the hut where Gray and Karissa were most likely sleeping.
As Lucy opened the door and walked in, she immediately stiffened and let out a tiny gasp. Erza, who was standing right behind her, had the same reaction as the younger mage. They were just frozen, it felt like they were intruding to be honest.
There, sleeping on the floor, was Gray and Karissa in a... compromising position. Karissa was sleeping on her side, facing the closed window that permitted a thin line of moonlight to touch the side where she was supposedly supposed to be laying on. Gray's solid chest was pressed against her back, his arm draped securely around her while his other arm was hidden under his pillow.
Lucy slowly turned her head to look at Erza who actually seemed interested in the sight before them.
"I'm surprised Karissa hasn't woken up from the door opening... she's a light sleeper most of the time." Erza whispered softly to not wake the two sleeping ice mages who looked they were in their natural habitat.
"Do they cuddle like this often?" Lucy whispered back, cheeks blushing a little.
"N-Not that I'm aware of..."
"Hnng..."
Erza and Lucy became stone when Gray made a sound. Robotically, they turned to look back at them and found Gray nuzzling his face in the back of her head which made Karissa reach up and scratch her ear when his hair tickled her.
Lucy's hands flew up to her mouth and she teared her eyes away. It felt like she was intruding.
It was only when Natsu's loud and sluggish footsteps became the most audible sound nearby that the two pulled away like as if they didn't want to be caught. Gray turned on his back, his arm flying above his head while Karissa nuzzled into her pillow.
―
Karissa face stayed frozen after Lucy finished her testimony, her eyes slightly widened while shoulders went stiff, unsure what to think about the story. Gray was cuddling her in her sleep?! That never happened before!
And why the hell was she feeling somewhat pleased about that revelation? That was weird. It was making her feel a little bashful. The thought of being wrapped in that same warmth he gave her on the ship made her skin prickle from being flustered and nervous, she could feel the heat crawling up her neck. Get a grip, stupid.
Lucy and Cana were staring at her, waiting for an answer. Mirajane was also waiting for a response after she passed by again and overheard Lucy's testimony, she nearly dropped a glass she was cleaning when she heard how Gray nuzzled her hair.
"Listen," Karissa started. "Gray nearly died twice on that island, and obviously, I don't want him to die. I got scared when he stopped me from stopping him from doing a damn suicide spell. And I just needed a... hug... from him after all that." She averted her eyes away when she realized how embarrassing it was to admit it. She sounded like a child. "We ended up talking... and I guess we just fell asleep talking. We weren't like that when we were awake though!"
"So basically, you fell asleep in each other's arms." Cana deadpanned.
"No we—" Karissa paused and her eyes looked upwards.
It kinda does sound like that...
"...I just wanted a... hug." Her voice became softer when she finished her sentence, slowly becoming mortified. She tugged her sleeves and hid away her hands to casually brush her nose to cover her mouth.
"That's so cute!" Mirajane finally gushed with a hand on her cheek, smiling and giggling almost like a maniac. Karissa looked around cautiously in fear of someone else hearing their conversation. Thankfully, Juvia was sitting far away... next to Gray. Again.
"It's not like I never hugged Gray before." Karissa argued when she saw Cana smirking at her. "What? I can't hug my friends anymore?! And let me point out that you can't control what you do when you're freaking sleeping!"
"Then why didn't you just pull away when you felt like you were falling asleep?" Lucy wondered innocently. "One of you might have noticed and could have moved away."
"That's because... well, I was too lazy. I just fell asleep while listening to him talk. I don't know about him though."
"Oh man." Cana propped her chin in her palm and gave her a grin. "You saying that you were lazy most likely meant that you were comfy being close to him. Gray probably felt the same or he just didn't want to disturb you while you slept. Didn't you say that you didn't sleep for three days? He might have wanted you to get some greatly needed rest, how sweet of him."
"Think what you want about Gray, you can even ask him if you want." Karissa expelled an exasperated sigh while grabbing another candy from the bowl. If they were to ask him, he might combust in embarrassment though. "But like I said, he almost died twice on that island. I wanted to hug him and just be close to him for a while."
That's all it was. She just wanted to be close to him and a hug was literally a way to be close. Was that so hard to understand without twisting it around and trying to read in between non-existent lines?
Speaking of close, that Juvia really has been doing her best to stay close with Gray whenever he's at the guild or if she's around him in general.
Cana, the ringleader of the conversation, decided that the interrogation should finally come to a stop. She could give her old friend some reprieve. For now, it was good enough that Karissa admitted she wanted to be close to him, that alone said a lot about how she felt with Gray. She enjoyed being with him, close to him, and she was protective over his life. Cana could understand that but she couldn't help but wonder if it ran deeper than that.
It was only when Karissa's stomach growled and barked at her that she took that as her cue to leave. It was lunch time and she had settled with eating food from home instead of buying something. She was sure there was leftover spaghetti from last night. As she strode across the wooden floor, she couldn't help but turn her attention towards Gray's table. Juvia was sliding a dessert towards him while batting her eyelashes with anticipation. Like yesterday, she was sticking close to him.
Then a thought crossed her mind.
What if Gray started going out with Juvia?
Thinking about it now, if Gray did start going out with the blue mage, she honestly would feel a little crushed. She most likely wouldn't be able to act so casual around him without igniting giant sparks of jealousy and potentially ruining their relationship. She would have to take a step back so that she wouldn't trouble Gray. She had gotten used to it just being her and him. Those moments where it would just be the two of them would no longer happen as often.
Gray never had a girlfriend before so she didn't have to worry about it before. And when he did have that one a crush on someone in the past, he chose to let it fizzle out since he wasn't interested in having a relationship.
This was the first time someone was openly showing Gray interest though. As weird as it was, Karissa couldn't lie to herself and not believe she felt irked by it.
I guess... I feel threatened by the idea because I don't like the idea of staying away from him.
Karissa lowered her head so that her hair could hide her face when she realized that she was frowning at the unpleasant thought. She tugged on her sleeve to hide her face, rubbing it with an annoyed groan. Maybe she was just overthinking things. It was best to just not think about it.
Just as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder and walked past the doors, she heard running footsteps approach her and fall into step with her. "Are you okay?"
Startled, she jumped and whipped her head up to find Gray at her side looking at her with concern. What, did he just run over to her? For what? His table was like way over there.
"Uhh... yeah?" Karissa tipped her head. "Why?"
Gray scratched the back of his head as they walked further away from the building "I thought you were crying or something. You had your head down and you were wiping your face with your sleeve."
... Aww. Not gonna lie, that made my heart squeeze a little.
She let out a small laugh as they walked past the name of their guild hanging above them. "I just had something on my face." Her hands went inside her pockets when she smiled a little while showing off her eyes to prove that there were no tears. "You came running just because you thought I was crying?"
"You don't expect me to think you're crying and just ignore it do you?"
"I...I don't know?" Karissa rubbed the back of her neck; she didn't expect him to answer her like that. She turned her face and hid the little smile on her face that she couldn't fight back. With a sigh, he stopped walking with one hand in his pocket. His other hand reached out and grabbed her head to gently pull her towards him. She stumbled in surprise and stared at the ground, confused.
"I told you." He looked towards his left and gently patted her head. "I'm not going to leave you alone if you start crying."
Karissa blinked.
Ah.
...
...
...
"U-Uh..." Gray felt stupid as he continued mumbling vowels like an idiot.
"Jeez, the fuck..." Karissa laughed pathetically, wiping her tears, "Ugh, sorry. I know you can't handle this type of crap." Karissa groaned, annoyed at herself for just putting Gray on the spot. "I'll just take a walk and calm the hell down. Maybe the sound of waves will help."
"Wait!" Gray instantly shot up leaned forward and latched his hand around her wrist before she got too far. "I'll go with you. I can't leave you alone when you're crying."
"What? But... you can't really handle crying girls, right? Last time I checked, I'm a girl." she sniffed while giving him an unsure look.
"Forget about me. Just think of yourself." He grumbled and stood next to her. He gently placed a hand on her back to push her along as he started walking.
...
...
...
She stood there stiff when she recalled the time he said those words even when he let go of her and started walking ahead of her, asking her if she was coming.
Gray can be sweet every now and then.
Karissa snapped out of it and walked after him to walk by his side, a grin on her face when she couldn't fight it back.
"You're not going back to the guild now that you know it's a false alarm?"
"Nah. I think I'm just going to head home and relax after getting some food."
"I don't have anything else to do here so I'll just head home too and eat."
Gray hummed and slowly nodded before casually asking her, "Do you want to eat somewhere together?"
"Ugh... I wish." Karissa pouted when she thought of all the potential local restaurants they could just walk into. She even had her wallet in her bag this time! "But Pandora's spaghetti is calling for me."
Familiar with the eldest's pasta, he started salivating when he recalled how it tasted like. "Pandora's spaghetti is so good..." he moaned and tilted his head back, suddenly craving for it. Sometimes, Pandora would ask Van or Karissa to drop by Gray's house to give him some in a container full of it. And man did he always appreciate it. If he had that waiting for him at home, he'd also reject the offer to eat somewhere. It was just that worth it.
Karissa smirked at him and poked his arm. "Jealous?"
"Yes. Very." He answered, flatly.
Side by side, they walked down the street and talked together and laughed. She also asked him if he was willing to try and work on doing a Unison Raid with her. He looked pretty excited to try and do it again too. It would serve as their trump card if things weren't looking good on their end of a fight. Wind and Ice.
And now that they were all alone and just talking about whatever came to mind, Karissa decided that she could try to use this opportunity to ask him something even if his answer might potentially make her a little glum.
"So, got a crush on anyone lately?" she turned her head to look at him, a casual grin on her face.
To her surprise, his whole body clenched up and he inhaled sharply.
Huh?
Meanwhile, Gray was having a small moment of panic and disbelief. Did she figure it out already? How damn observant can she get?! He was pretty sure he didn't do anything out of the ordinary lately. Calm down, Gray!
He looked at her with furrowed brows. "And just what brought that up?" he managed to keep his voice steady.
Karissa only shrugged her shoulders while she held the strap of her bag. "Juvia's been hanging around you lately because she likes you. I was just wondering if you were catching some feelings." She said easily.
Oh.
He inwardly facepalmed for jumping to conclusions.
He chuckled for two reasons. The first was because he was being silly for panicking a little. The second was because of Karissa's choice of words. She was hanging around him, she says. That was an understatement. Juvia 'hanging around him' meant much more than that. He thought it was just him when he started noticing the water mage showing up in some areas he was in. It didn't take research for him to realize she might have been following him.
"I know she likes me," Gray scratched his head. "But it's too soon for anything to happen."
"Ohhh."
She decided to leave it at that instead of asking anything else even though he didn't give her a straight answer.
But I guess I'm somehow satisfied with this answer.
And then, Karissa whirled around and started walking back much to his confusion. He called out to her, wondering why she suddenly turned back, but then a gasp escaped him when she saw her bending down to snatch his shirt off the ground.
"Aw man not again!" he looked at his body and found himself in his underwear again.
Karissa snickered and picked up his sweater. When she leaned back up, she got a glimpse of a familiar blue figure darting behind a wall just before she could fully see them. Too late. She saw it. Juvia was following them. Karissa was hella creeped out. She used her wind to bring the rest of his scattered clothes and then spun on her heel when she gathered them in her arms.
Oh hell no. This is fucking weird.
She speed walked towards Gray who looked at her oddly when she approached him with her eyes were widened and her mouth forming a straight line.
"What's wrong?"
"Put your clothes on and let's keep walking. I'm scared." Karissa whined, holding out his clothes. Scared was just the basic word for saying she was creeped out.
"Huh? Why?"
"Juvia." She hissed, holding up his shirt for him to start getting dressed. "She's following us, like what the fuck."
"Oh... OH."
―
Karissa and Gray parted ways after reaching an intersection. Gray went to buy food and Karissa just made a beeline to her house. She didn't care if Juvia might have been following her because she was going to freeze the water chick and probably toss her into the water if she creeped her out even more.
When she got home, she was greeted an overwhelming smell of tomato sauce.
Huh? The heck...?
As she shut the door behind her, her eyes landed straight on the kitchen area and found Pandora staring at her like a deer in headlights. Everywhere on the counter and table had containers filled with food inside, specifically spaghetti.
"... Is something happening?" Karissa wondered, baffled at the numerous containers just sitting around. Was there a party she didn't know about?
The eldest daughter of the Sinclost family pouted and scratched the back of her neck. "I... uh, kinda made too much."
"Too much? You made spaghetti for all of Fiore!"
"No, I didn't!" Pandora shot back with a frown. "But I know, I know... It's too much!" Pandora whined in embarrassment before slouching on the counter and hiding her face in the crook of her elbow. "I got carried away."
One weird habit that her sister had, that resulted in them running out of ingredients sometimes, was that she had this thing called stress cooking or guilt cooking. Instead of eating food, Pandora made the food whenever something was on her mind and making her feel glum. According to her, it was a great way to distract herself and just get lost in her task. However, that resulted in her making too many portions that Van and Karissa would have ended up vomiting if they chose to ate it all.
Pandora decided to finally break the silence. "Hey... I just wanna say I'm sorry about last night."
"What for?" Karissa started removing her shoes.
Pandora straightened up and went around the counter to slowly approach her younger sister. "What I said back then, it hurt you didn't it?"
"... Kinda?" Karissa lightly cocked her head to the side while putting her shoes on the side. "It hurt but not so much. Yesterday, I talked with Gray on the way home so your words' damage was debuffed thanks to him because I talked about it with him. I'm not upset with you if that's what you're thinking."
"Really?" Pandora's shoulders that she didn't know where tense relaxed. "But I thought you were also angry with the way you just went upstairs?"
"No I wasn't. I just felt weird and awkward after all that." Karissa looked at her and waved her hand dismissively. "Really don't worry about it. I get it. You were just talking like that because of what happened. I get it. Besides, just because I'm the youngest here doesn't mean that I'm a hundred percent sensitive about it. Like you said, it's something that happened years ago, it doesn't occupy my every waking thought. I think about it every now and then, but that's it. I'm not going to bawl my eyes over it."
Pandora was the one who had to step up and take care of them. She was pretty sure there had to be times where her older sister felt pressured and angry for being forced into that situation despite the Fullbusters helping them every now and then. She'll never understand how her older sister could have felt because she was only the younger sister who didn't have responsibilities. For that reason, she couldn't hold it against her to feel the way she did and project that anger the way she did last night.
"Really?" Pandora looked like she was pouting. She was hoping that Karissa wasn't lying for her sake.
The younger Sinclost let out a huff and shrugged with her hands. "I mean, if you want to believe I'm upset then that's up to you—" she let out a small 'oof' when her sister all but pulled her into a tight hug.
"I felt bad last night but I just couldn't say anything even though I'm the big sister here!" Pandora groaned and then spilled how she asked Master Makarov to ask the Magic Council to find out something about Clavis from Brain. This made Karissa pull away and gave her an incredulous look because she wasn't expecting her sister to ask such a thing when she clearly told Van and Karissa that she wasn't interested in searching for Clavis. But her response to that was that she was just annoyed that they were talking about their parents.
"I hope they'll be able to find something." Karissa said. "I'm a little curious."
But what if Clavis wanted nothing to do with them? It would probably be disappointing...
The older sister nodded softly while playing with her fingers. "I hope they do. I'll admit, I started wondering about how it would be nice if we got to see him alive and well." She admitted. There was a brief pause. "Again. I'm sorry, Karissa!" she apologized again after she wrapped her arms around her, clinging onto her tightly to express her remorse.
Karissa only sweat dropped and patted her sister's back. "And I said don't worry about it, Pandora."
I understand how bad you felt If you cooked this much food...
All that was left now was to try and figure out what to with all the spaghetti she made.
―
Calling it a quick field trip, the Sinclost family decided to drop off food to their friends so that it wouldn't just sit and rot in their fridge. They just needed to get most of it out of the house.
Pandora and Karissa were at Fairy Hills just in time for supper to drop off the food while Van was at the boys dorm. Levy and Cana were the ones who were the most enthusiast about the food on the girls side.
"You made all of this?" Wendy said, surprised, and followed after Pandora while carrying a some containers with Bisca behind her.
"Yeah..." Pandora laughed sheepishly when she set some containers on the table.
"I didn't know stress cooking was a thing." Carla spoke, watching the other girls drop off the containers around them in the kitchen.
"She once made so much curry that we had to give it to some townspeople." Cana recounted.
"That's too much!" Evergreen facepalmed.
"Still delicious though." Cana licked her lips.
"Pandora's cooking is good!" Levy piped up with a beaming smile. "So getting free food from her is always fine with me."
"I'm kind of getting excited to eat since you're all saying nice things about her cooking." Wendy admitted, staring at the container in her hands.
"Thank you so much for the food Pandora!" Bisca started putting some away in the fridge with Erza who asked if the older Sinclost was feeling alright only to be reassured with a smile that she was okay.
Meanwhile, in the common room, Karissa was sitting on the sofa, waiting for Pandora, just looking up at the ceiling with a pillow to her chest, a light feeling of nostalgia was washing over her as she kept looking around the common room, mentally noting the slightest things that changed and what remained from the old days.
She could almost see herself playing jenga with Cana when they first met.
When she was just staring up at the ceiling, Juvia came down the stairs, wearing a light blue nightgown and white slippers, wondering why the upper floors were suddenly a ghost town. To her surprise, she found Karissa just sitting there and spacing out while staring at the ceiling. Puzzled, she was wondering why she was there since she heard the Sinclost sisters did not live at the dorm. But then she remembered how Karissa lovingly held onto her beloved Gray like a koala and how she enticed Gray into giving her a gentle head pat, igniting her jealousy.
"Karissa-san!"
Startled, Karissa all but jumped on the couch and looked around confused, the pillow on her lap flew out of her lap. When she spotted Juvia, she looked at her in bewilderment when she was met with an attempt at an intimidating stare.
The fuck?
"... What?"
"After observing and calculating your relationship with Gray-sama, you, Karissa-san, are officially Juvia's ultimate rival in love!" she declared, her finger pointed directly at the ice mage. It was high time that she finally did.
HUH?
"But Juvia will not lose against you! She will win Gray-sama's heart!"
Karissa blinked. HAH?!
"Now that Juvia has that out of the way, do you know where the other girls are?"
Slowly, she raised her hand and pointed at the kitchen. "Pandora brought some food for you guys..." and with that, Juvia thanked her and shuffled towards the kitchen to see what was up, leaving Karissa, who just stilled without saying a word, to stare back at her with confusion that morphed into annoyance.
She noted how her heart rate increased, her body was tense, and she felt really annoyed. Juvia's weird and sudden declaration, for some reason, got under her skin. She silently clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes at Juvia's figure that disappeared around the corner.
The question from earlier came to her again.
What if Gray started going out with Juvia?
A simple answer without an explanation or reason to back it up came to her so easily.
I wouldn't like it.
―
Yes, I drew them. I got bored. Van and Pandora were done hella fast so I'm not 100% proud of it. I just wanted to draw them on the computer because I drew them in my sketchbook before.